The 12th International Academic Symposium on Chinese Classics kicked off in Jixi County, Anhui Province, on June 26. Co-hosted by the School of Liberal Arts of Anhui University, the Institute of Chinese Classics Studies of Tsinghua University, and the Specialized Committee for Chinese Classics Studies of the China Confucius Society, the symposium centered on the theme of “Chinese Classics and Wan Studies”. It gathered nearly 200 distinguished experts and scholars from universities and research institutions at home and abroad.

Wang Shouguo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Anhui University, noted in his address that the Anhui University Bamboo Slips and Hui Studies are two iconic cultural symbols that embody the distinctive academic characteristics of Anhui University. The former revitalizes the origin of Chinese classics research through unearthed documents, while the latter inherits and interprets traditional classics via textual criticism and philosophical reasoning.

In her speech, Cheng Yan, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts of Anhui University, pointed out that Chinese classics studies, a traditional Chinese discipline focusing on the annotation and interpretation of Confucian classics, underpins Chinese civilization and embodies the essence of the nation’s millennial wisdom.

Chen Bisheng, Director of the Institute of Chinese Classics Studies of Tsinghua University and President of the Specialized Committee for Chinese Classics Studies of the China Confucius Society, remarked that contemporary research on Chinese classics has shown a prominent trend of multidisciplinary integration and diversified development against the backdrop of modern academic disciplinary division.(Reporters: Yuan Zhongfeng, Luo Xin)